According to business blog Bizshifts-Trends, Al Ries and Jack Trout popularized the concept of “positioning” in the retail shelf space in their 2000 book “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind.” Positioning deals with the placement of a product on a retail shelf and analyzing how such placement can impact a consumer’s interest in buying the product while shopping. According to the authors, products placed on the bottom shelf typically will see lower sales volumes. In addition, because up to 80 percent of consumer decisions are made at the point of sale, this placement is very important, the authors said in their book.
In addition to aiming for beneficial shelf placement, brands also can utilize packaging and, more specifically, their product labels to catch a consumer’s eye and communicate pertinent product information to him or her. For example, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Silver Spring, Md., continuously updates the type of information brands must print on these labels. The labeling industry also has helped labels evolve to offer safety features as well, with some including anti-counterfeiting features, according to a 2012 report by PMMI, Reston, Va.